This is the closest you’ll get to using the Apple Watch this year

As much as big consumer electronics companies would like you to think smart watches are already the next big thing, consumers haven’t really shown much interest in the devices. Even Samsung and its massive multi-billion dollar marketing budget hasn’t been able to move the needle, selling just a few hundred thousand units here and there.

Just about every Apple analyst on the planet things that the upcoming Apple Watch will finally break the mold, and Apple will sell double-digit millions within the device’s first year of availability. Only time will tell if consumers will actually bite — remember, all these predictions are being made before we really know anything at all about how the Apple Watch will work.

While we wait for more official word from Apple, though, a new concept might give us our best idea yet of what it will be like to use the Apple Watch.

Cult of Mac on Tuesday shared a great concept created by user interface design specialist Impekable. The mockup envisions what using an Apple Watch version of the Starbucks app might be like, and it even shows us how easy and smooth it might be to pay for goods using Apple Pay on the Apple Watch.

“Our concept was to re-envision how Apple Watch could enhance the Starbucks customer experience by providing an even better way to order rather than standing in a long line,” Impekable founder Pek Pongpaet said. “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could just go grab a table, order one of my usual drinks, pay for it using Apple Pay or my Starbucks card and get notified when my drink is ready – all from my phone without leaving the comfort of my seat?”

It would be cool indeed, and Impekable even created a nifty animated GIF that shows us how fantastic the user experience might be. The company’s GIF is embedded below.